- Cybercriminals laundered hundreds of millions from the Axie Infinity hack
- Lazarus stole $100 million from crypto firm Harmony's Horizon Bridge
- Sinbad conceals transactions linked to drug trafficking, evading sanctions
On November 29, the United States announced sanctions on Sinbad, a virtual currency mixer, for allegedly processing crypto worth millions on behalf of North Korean hackers, according to the Treasury Department. These were proceeds the cybercriminals laundered from major heists, such as Horizon Bridge and Axie Infinity, Reuters reported.
A crypto or digital currency mixer is a tool that collects and mixes crypto from thousands of addresses.
The biggest hack in history
According to the Treasury Department, the North Korea-linked Lazarus Group was behind the million dollar heists. The US-sanctioned Lazarus carried out the biggest crypto heist in history.
In March last year, gaming-focused Ronin Network announced a loss equivalent to more than $625 million in ether and USDC. The attack impacted Ronin Network validator nodes for Sky Mavis, the publishers of Axie Infinity, as well as the Axie DAO. The hacker tapped into private keys to make fake withdrawals in two transactions from the Ronin Bridge.
In January this year, the FBI said Lazarus stole $100 million from crypto firm Harmony’s Horizon Bridge. Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said in the statement on Wednesday:
Mixing services that enable criminal actors, such as the Lazarus Group, to launder stolen assets will face serious consequences. The Treasury Department and its US government partners stand ready to deploy all tools at their disposal to prevent virtual currency mixers, like Sinbad, from facilitating illicit activities.
Sinbad succeeded Blender, the first sanctioned mixer
Some industry experts believe Sinbad succeeded the Blender mixer, which the US Treasury Department Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned for its part in laundering funds from the Ronin Bridge hack last year.
According to the Treasury, cybercriminals also use Sinbad to conceal transactions connected to drug trafficking, evading sanctions, and buying sexual abuse materials. The sanctions have frozen Sinbad’s assets in the US and prohibited Americans from using the mixer.
